CHAPTER 337: CHAPTER 153: FARMING PLANS (PART 2)

"Indeed."

Lei Jie nodded thoughtfully, then continued:

"I feel like we should find time to visit the major breeding bases and retrieve their stored seeds."

"That’s something for later."

Chen Jian waved his hand and said:

"The population hasn’t even stabilized yet; it’s pointless to worry about high-yield crops now."

"Shen Yue’s approach is correct, just plant first and deal with it later."

"Instead of worrying about seeds, it would be better to solve the expenditure issue first."

"Once the ammonia synthesis industry is up and running, we should be self-sufficient."

"Understood."

Lei Jie nodded, stood up, and said:

"That’s basically it. Let Fu Xi generate a detailed plan and then split and distribute it."

"By the way, what’s our next move? Continue expanding reconnaissance? Keep fighting monsters?"

"Shen Yue will handle that."

Chen Jian shook his head and said:

"Besides farming, we have several tasks to focus on next."

"Shen Yue will lead the Huaxia Army to explore outward, coordinating with the arriving Holy Blood members and part of the Mechanical God Sect’s Guardian Army to eliminate monsters, establish surveillance, and shelter refugees."

"He Shuo will continue to strengthen external influence, collect intelligence by various means, export our ideology, and prepare for infiltration."

"Lei Jie, you will work with Fu Xi to assemble the DF-26 missiles, establish missile silos, and create launch conditions."

"Understood."

"Got it."

They each replied in turn, and then Lei Jie asked immediately:

"What about you? Are you going out again?"

"Not this time."

Chen Jian shook his head and said:

"I’m in charge of the overall defensive layout and comprehensive management of Base 011."

"Nomadic development isn’t sustainable; with the Beast Tide approaching, we must secure our base."

"We need to engage them in a positional battle."

"Since we’re going to fight a positional battle... our positions must be built solidly!"

....

Generally speaking, in modern warfare, tall city walls, sturdy fortresses, and huge cities have little tactical significance.

After all, no matter how high your walls are, they can’t stop airplanes, and no matter how strong your fortresses are, they can’t withstand a bunker buster.

But now, although Chen Jian’s team possesses a large number of modern weapons, the battle they are about to fight is not a standardized modern war.

Their enemies are not human forces with equal firepower, but a massive horde of monsters with astonishing killing power against living targets but lacking armor-piercing and siege capabilities.

In such circumstances, the significance of fortresses becomes quite substantial.

Chen Jian, along with a few Holy Blood members and driving a cat vehicle, traveled down the G25 freeway, observing the terrain and talking:

"The G25 freeway is a rather reliable defensive line. Using this highway as a skeleton, we have several relatively well-maintained paved roads leading to the Jinling Ruins."

"If we set the first line of defense here, it will be quite convenient for support, transport, and retreat."

"The only issue is that this freeway circling the Jinling Ruins is a bit too long."

"At a total length of 65 kilometers, we can’t establish enough permanent fortifications."

"Therefore, the best approach would be to set up 20 to 30 simple fortresses along this line."

"With these fortresses, we can deploy all the artillery we captured from Huadu to the front lines."

"Once the monsters enter the direct-fire range of the artillery, regardless of their position, they will simultaneously face a direct bombardment from at least three cannons."

"In theory, no matter how strong the monsters in the Beast Tide are, they won’t withstand such firepower."

"Even if this line of defense is breached, our people can quickly retreat along the highway to the second line of defense."

"What do you think? Does this strategy seem viable?"

Chen Jian turned to Ji Xing and others, and after a brief pause, Xie Liu responded:

"There’s one problem."

"This place is too far from the base and on the front line, with considerable distances between each fortress."

"How can we ensure... that soldiers deployed here won’t flee out of fear?"

"The Beast Tide is different from ordinary monsters. Our people have already learned to remain calm when facing regular monsters."

"But what if... they are faced with thousands of monsters?"

"We can’t use swarm robots, right? Because the Beast Tide might disrupt communications, causing electronic equipment failures..."

"That’s indeed a problem."

Chen Jian nodded and sighed:

"Humans are the most reliable yet most unreliable ’tools.’

"We can’t predict when they might collapse; in fact, no commander in history has been able to predict when their troops would collapse."

"Unless they knew from the start that their team went to the battlefield with a suicidal resolve."

"So we can only execute according to this mindset."

"We must make the stationed personnel understand that coming here means death."

"Only those who are willing to follow orders even after such a screening deserve to be in the fortress."

"Of course, we’ll also prepare backup plans, such as the swarm robots you mentioned."

"Or we could adopt wired remote control to operate the artillery here."

"A distance of a few dozen kilometers isn’t too far; our cable reserves can actually cover it."

"Understood..."

Xie Liu nodded thoughtfully, while Ji Xing suddenly spoke up:

"So we need to start a selection process in advance."

"We must artificially create a fatal scenario to test our team."

"Exactly."

Chen Jian slightly eased the throttle and then said:

"Shen Yue is already planning, and execution is expected in the next two days."

"How about participating to see if you can withstand the pressure?"

After hearing this, Xie Liu and Ji Xing both chuckled.

Then Ji Xing cleared their throat and said:

"Commander, you should stay in the Imperial City a bit longer."

"If you saw how the Holy Blood members are trained from a young age, you’d know that dying was easier than living for us back then."

"No Holy Blood member is afraid, unless they rise to a higher position..."

"I see....."

Chen Jian didn’t continue the conversation and instead steered the vehicle onto the S87 freeway.

Then he said:

"Approaching the ruins from here brings us to our second line of defense, our minefield."

"We will deploy about 10 nuclear weapons with a yield of 300 kilotons here, to be detonated sequentially if necessary."

"The reason for not placing them further out is the limited number of nuclear weapons and the reduced impact if the area is too large."

"We must wait for the monsters to gather densely to maximize the effect."

"Though, this narrows our own survival space significantly..."

"This is a one-time deal; we prefer not to use nukes unless absolutely necessary."

"Is this the only minefield?"

Xie Liu suddenly asked.

"This is the only dense minefield."

Chen Jian nodded and continued:

"However, on the 20-kilometer perimeter beyond the first line of defense, we will deploy a few mobile nuclear bombs on trucks for decapitation strikes against high-threat targets."

"If we spot Level 1 or Level 2 monsters early, these proven self-destruct trucks will send them home at the right moment."

"Understood."

Ji Xing pondered briefly before commenting:

"A very comprehensive defense line."

"Even a Beast Tide composed of thousands of monsters would struggle to breach such defenses."

"Although there are no indestructible walls, each line is a kill line for them."

"However..."

At this point, Ji Xing paused.

Chen Jian continued on their behalf:

"However, if all three defensive lines are breached, the last line of defense will be just us."

"At that point, we’ll be forced into close-quarters combat with the monsters."

"Who survives..."

"Will depend on who dares to risk it all..."